Automobile rim tool



C. J. BUSH. AUTOMOBILE RIM TOOL. APPucATIoN FILED MAR.24. 1919.

9433,779- www@ oct. 3L, M22.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

C. J. BUSH. AUTOMOBILE RIM T001.. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 24. |919.

Patented Oct. 311, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

cuantas fr. rusia, Borrero, new Yoan.

AUTOTOBILE RTM TOL.

Application lscl March 24,

To all whom 'it 12mg/ concern.:

Be it known that l. Crriinrus J. BUSH, a citizen olf the United States,residing in Buffalo, in the county olf lili-ie and State ot New York,have invented new and useiful. lmprovements in iliiitomobile Rim Tools,oilf' which the l'ollowing a specification.

This invention relates to a tool for manipulating.;` split demountableautomohilje tire rims, so as to suticiently flier; the same and therebypermit oit either putt-ing,- the usual rubber, automobile tire onto therim, or oit removingl the same 'thereitronr The object ci kthe inventionis 'to produce a simple `and inexpensive rim tool. whose action islargely automatic nd easily operated and understood by a personunifamiliar with mechanical devices. l further object is to produce atool that can be compactly stowed away and which is not made up ot anumber of loose parts, but is rigid in structure and positive inaction.

.ln the accompanying` drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, ot a tire rim with myimproved rim tool applied thereto. Figure 2 is a `diainetrical sectiontaken on line 2,2, 1. Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary verticalsection taken on line Ll-3, Fig. 1. Figure 4f is an enlargedlongitudinal, fragmentary section tal-zen on line el d, Fig. 8. Figure 5is an enlarged outside view ot' one iof the catch heads detached. Figure6 is a side elevation of the tire rim with a modiiied :form of myimproved rim tool applied thereto. Figure 7 is an enlargedYlfrzurrnentary section talren on line 7M?, Fior Figure 8 is an enlargedperspective v operating lever employed in the construction shown inFigs, G and 7. Figure 9 is a trag mentary section ot a catch headshowing a modilied 'form of catch spring` and enga-gf-` mp; catchassociated therewith. y

Similar characters ot reference roter to like parts throughout theseveral views.

10 represents a channel-shaped tire run,

which is adapted "to be applied to or re' moved from an automobile wheeland which is arranged to detachably carry the ordinary rubber,automobile tire, My improved rim tool can be used with practically anytype of split tire rim, but tor purposes of ,descrip tion, a typical rimhas been shown in the drawings so as to exhibit clearly the novelcooperation between the rim and my iinm proved tire tool whereby theaction ot the i removed or applied iew oli the 1919. Serial N0. 234,792.

tool isrendered largely automatic. The *per .ripheral flanges oi" `thismetal tire rim 'torni outside, lateral rim taces 11 and peripheral beadsor rim edges 12, and., usually also, the tire rim will be provided withtwo annular 'lianges 13 extending inwardly from the tire rim properforming;` an annular channel. on the inner side of the same. llldesignates the usual split in the tire rim, whereby the.' rim7 in theusual Land customary man-ner. can be made of smaller diaineter, so as topermit of readily applying` an automobile tire to or removing 'the sametherefrom. The rim is usually provided. at one end, ad jacent to thesplit let, with a transverse locr;- ing notch. 15. which adapted torece-ive an outwardly projectinp` locking lug lo ar ranged at the outerend ot an overlappino,- locking` bar 17, that is secured by rivets 170to the `adjacentl other end ot the tire rim. Thisloclring bar is adaptedto be held out wardly in its operative position by means oi? a turnbutton 18, whose inner beveled .tace 19 is adapted to engage with abevel surface 2O formed at the outer end ot the inner tace of thelocking; bar 17 adjacent to the linger 16 thereof. `When the-tire rim isto be unlocked, the button 1S is turned halt'way around from theposition shown in the drawings until its flat side 21 registers with theflat outer end of the lockingl bar 17 after which that end ot the rimcarrying said locking` bar is moved inwardly relatively to the as thecase may be. tool may be varied considerably in mechanical detailwithout de parting` 'from the spirit of the invention, but a practicalembodiment thereof is shown in Figs. 1-5 inclusive and as there shown7is constructed as follows:

Adapted to extend diametrically 'across the space within the rim is alongitudinally extensible and contractible support which is My improvedrim hollow guide `tube 22 project outwardly the Vguide tube and otherend thereof and the tire 100 of telescopic form and comprises a roundtwo diametrical thrust i beyond the sides of the latter. Engaging theexternal `screw thread 24 of the guide tube and fitting snugly hetweenthe thrust pins 26 is a rotatable screw nut27, which when manuallyturned by means of its handles 270, presses against one or the other ofthe thrust pins and thereby causes the slide rod 25 to move inwardly oroutwardly relatively to the guide tube. lt is preferable"` to interposea pair of' anti-friction washers 220, between the end faces of the screwnut 27 and the thrust pins, as shown.

The outer end of the guide tube 22 is pro vided with an internal screwthread which receives a correspondingly threaded stud. 32 which is setin a tappd hole 33 of a thrust block or head piece 34. This stud issecured to the head piece by a pin 35 or otherwise and the guide tube istightly screwed up on said stud thereby 'rigidly securing the guide tubeto the head piece. Similarly, the slide rod 25 is provided at its outerend with an exterior screw thread 36 which engages a similarly tappedhole 33 in the other head piece 34. Also' engaging-the screw thread onthe slide rod is a lock nut 360 whereby the slide rod is rigidly securedto its companion head piece.

Each of the head pieces's provided at its opposite ends with twosquare-sided pockets or lateral recesses 37, and a limiting shoulder orcatch stop 3?() adjacent to the outer end of each recess. Arrangedlaterally on the outside of each head piece 34, are two retaining hooksor catches 38 provided at their inner ends with hubs 39 which extendinto the square sided pockets 3T and are pivoted to the head piece bymeans of transverse pivots 40. Each of these pivots is supported at bothends by the opposite longitudinal supporting walls 340 of the companionpocket 37, so that a very strong pivotal construction is therebyeffected. Ar-l ranged transversely on the inner side of each head pieceand secured thereto is a flat7 catch spring 41 havino` its ends taperedand curled outwardly and arranged to hear against the outer faces of thehooks or catches 38. One catch spring is gripped between one of the headpieces 34 and the outer end of the guide tube 22 while the other catchspring is gripped between the other head piece and. the lock nut 360.Thus each catch 33 by reason of its spring is yieldingly forced towardits companion catch and normally pressed against its companion catchstop 370 although free to swing in the opposite direction about thepivot 40 and retained between the two flat inner faces of the walls 340.

'The outer ends of each pair of catches 33 are provided with inclinedgripping lips 42 extending toward each other and also toward the center'of the tire rim when applied to the latter. The outer surfaces of thegripping lips form inclined cam faces 43 which.

i the guide are adapted to automatically cause the catches to open up asthe head piece is moved outwardly against the rim. l/Vhen the head piecehas thus moved outward suihciently, the yielding spring 41 then causesthe catches to move toward each other, therebypermitting the engaginglips to hook over the outer bead or rim edges?. of the tire rim, so thatthereafter when the head is moved inwardly toward the center of the rimit produces an inward pressure on the latter. Centrally on its outer'side each head piece is provided with a square faced lug 44 the twolateral faces 45 of which constitute aligning faces. This lug is adaptedto seat itself in the inner channel or groove of the tire rim betweenthe annular flanges 13 thereof and the said aligning faces 45 areadapted to bear against the inner faces of these flanges so as toprevent the head piece from turning on the rim. By this means each headpiece automatically aligns itself on the rim and the engaging catches 38are always constrained to swing perpendicularly to the rim so that saidcatches snap over the rim edges 12 and wedge in between said edges andthe side of the rubber tire. To further avoid turning ofthe head pieceon the rim, the gripping lips 42 have a considerable width as shown inFigs. 1, 3 and 6, so that they tend to throw themselves and the headpiece to which they are attached into proper alignment. This is aVparticu` larly valuable feature when the tire tool is being used on arim which is not equipped with the annular flanges 13. But the principalfunction of this wide construction of the gripping lips is to align thehead piece on the rimcoarsely or approximately into its proper positionso as to allow the lug 44 to position itself properly and thereafterpositively prevent any skewing of said head piece.

A modified means for moving the slide rod and tube relatively to eachother is shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, wherein a bifurcated operating lever28 is fulcrumed at 29 on the guide tube 202 and is pivotally connectedat its inner extremity by a pivot pin 30 to a pair of shifting links 31,whose op posite ends are connected to a thrust or wrist pin 260 on thethrust pins 26. Thus hy manually moving the operating lever 28 in onedirection or the other, the slide rod 250 is caused to either slideinwardly or outwardly relatively to tube, just as in the otherconstruction. The lever 28 is provided with' a stop 280 on its outer armwhich is adapted to engage with the outer side of the outer tubularmember 202 of the body when this lever has been turned into such aposition that the pivslide rod similar to one of the otal connections atopposite ends of each linkl 31 are on a line with the fulcrum of thislever and thereby operate to hold this lever in its extreme operativeposition without requiring any additional locking device for thispurpose.

A modified means ot yieldingly pressing the engaging catches toward eachother is shown in Fig. 9, where a coiled orhelical spring 4l() iswrapped around the pivot 40 and bears at its lower end against anadjacent part of the head piece 34; and at its upper end against anabutment i6 formed on the lower part ot an engaging hook or catch 380.The hub 390 of this modiiied catch is preferably hollowed out or slottedsuitably at 47 so as to receive the coiled spring 410 between its sidewalls adjacent to the slot. 380 is also provided with a combined fingerpiece and stop e8 projecting inwardly from the hub 5390 of the engagingcatch and adapted to limit the spreading movement of said catch andthereby eliminate any possibility of the coiled spring 4:10 getting outof place or being unduly strained as might otherwise possibly occuraccidentally or as the result of rough usage. Thisiinger-piece and stopis limited in its inward movement by either the slide rod 25 as shown inFig. 9 or by the guide tube 22, as the case may be. The drawing showsthat the two companion finger pieces i8 on either one of the head piecesare quite close together, so that when it is desired to open up thecatches and disengage them from the rim entirely, these finger piecescan be pressed together with two fingers, so that only one hand isnecessary Jfor this disengaging operation.

It is evident that the exceedingly tedious This incdiiied engaging`catch and irlrsonie task of applying tires to or removing the same fromdemountable rims can be greatly relieved by the use of this rim tool. Tospread the rim it is merely necessary to move the operating nut 27 orthe operating lever 28 as the case may be, in the proper direction.lWhen it is desired tocontract the rim, the operating means are irstmoved as before until the catches automatically snap over the rim edgesof the tire rim and then the operation is reversed until the rim hasbeen sufficiently contracted. Much, hard labor is avoided and yet thetool itself is very simple and of durable construction, easilyunderstood and manipulated and. it can be manufactured at low cost,

I claim as my invention:

A. tire tool comprising two supporting heads which are adapted to engagewith opposing parts of the inner side of a split tire rim and each ofwhich is provided on its opposite lateral sides with stops, means formoving said heads toward and from each other, a pair of catch leverspivoted on opposits sides oi? each head and having their outer armsadapted to engage said stops to limit their movement toward each otherand provided on their opposing sides with hooks adapted to engage theopposite edges of a tire rim while the inner arms of said levers areconstructed to form iinger pieces :tor operating said levers, andsprings arranged to constantly turn said catch levers in a direction inwhich the hooks of each pair of levers move toward each other.

CHARLES J. BUSH.

